The University of Arizona

The University of Arizona was founded
in 1885. From the six initial faculty
and thirty-two students, it has
grown to a University with over
2,000 faculty and 35,000 students.
In recent years it has made a commitment
toward excellence in teaching and
research, especially in the life
sciences, and it is now one of the
top 20 research universities in
the country with a first class science
library. Insect research is a major
focus.

The Entomology Department office
and the University of Arizona Insect Collection occupy
the north and west wings of the top floor
of the Forbes Building (map).
This is one of the grand old buildings
erected in 1915, with a handsome
pillared front entrance and a grassy
courtyard and rose garden on the
back side. The new Agriculture Building
has allowed us to expand to suit
our growing needs.

The University of Arizona encourages
inter-disciplinary research. The
increasing complexity of biological
knowledge and the limitations on
individual endeavor are seen as
a particular reason for combining
research efforts in different laboratories
and for increased interactions among
scientists with different disciplines.
This approach makes the working
environment particularly stimulating.

University of Arizona Agricultural Centers

Besides the main campus, the university
has agricultural centers where work
on agriculturally important insects
is carried out.

The
Campus Agricultural Center is
located about three miles north
of campus and is situated in and
around the USDA facilities serving
many of the departments within the
College. Two research laboratories
plus several greenhouses are located
on the farm that specifically serve
agriculturally-oriented research
by several faculty and their graduate
students. Farm land is available
for specialized small-plot field
research.

The
Maricopa Agricultural Center
(MAC) is located about 75 miles northwest
of Tucson and comprises the largest
and most modern research facility
among the off-campus farms. The
entire farm of 2550 acres is divided
for both large-scale demonstrations
and large-plot research. Numerous
agricultural and horticultural
crops can be grown for the researcher
upon request. Excellent modern laboratory
and greenhouse facilities are also
located at this station.

The Yuma Agricultural Center (YAC) is in Yuma, Arizona, about 250 miles west of Tucson. The YAC has two sites: a Valley farm four miles west of Yuma and a Mesa Farm four miles south of the city. The 274-acre Valley Farm includes a diversified range of crops, including cotton, small grains, and such vegetables as lettuce and broccoli. The 240-acre Mesa Farm is focused on citrus production.

The
Citrus Agricultural Center,
located in Waddell, Arizona, about 140 miles northwest of Tucson, is
used mainly for research but also
to demonstrate the latest varieties
and methodology in growing and maintaining
citrus, deciduous trees and vine
crops. Research includes variety
evaluation, nutrition, water use
and requirements, frost protection,
rootstock evaluation, pest and disease
control, organic growing methods,
and dwarfing techniques.

Marana:
The Marana Farm is located about
30 miles northwest of Tucson and
is devoted mostly to research with
agronomic crops. Faculty/staff from
the main campus utilize this farm
for field research.

The
Safford Agricultural Center
is located in eastern Arizona, approximately
130 miles from the main campus.
The higher elevation makes this
an ideal place for research on crops
adapted to the high desert region.

In addition there are special reserves
where insect ecology in natural
habitats may be conveniently studied:

The
Santa Rita Experimental Range
(40 minutes southwest of Tucson)
was recently acquired by the University
of Arizona. The range encompasses
a large acreage on the western slopes
of the Santa Rita Mountain range.
The Range is the site of current
research especially on termite ecology
and the biology of range insects.
The Florida Canyon Work Station
(a biological field station) provides
laboratory space and accommodations
for University of Arizona and visiting
biologists. Florida Canyon is an
excellent example of an interrupted
canyon stream and mountain canyon
riparian habitat where research
on native cotton insects, gall forming
insects, and the ecology and behavior
of aquatic insects is currently
being conducted.

The
Desert Laboratory was
established at the turn of the century
by the Carnegie Foundation for the
study of desert plants. Saguaro
cacti and other dominant perennial
Sonoran Desert species have been
monitored on site for over 80 years.
There are laboratory facilities
for personnel at the University
of Arizona and for visiting researchers
on site.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum, north of Tucson at Superior, has an excellent facility for research with arid land plants.

The
Sonoran Desert Station for Arthropod
Research now being established
in the Tucson Mountains will provide
a natural preserve for research
and instruction very close at hand.
The Sonoran Desert Station for Arthropod
Research consists of about 300 acres
of pristine lower Sonoran Desert
land of variable relief and exposure
in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains.
The reserve is bounded on the south
and west by county park land and
by the Saguaro National Monument.
Desert Station is administered by
the Department of Entomology. This
is a restricted access site for
long term ecological studies and
approved non-destructive, minimally
intrusive biological research. No
facilities are currently available
on site, but the location is only
20 minutes from the University of
Arizona campus.

Non-University Facilities

Apart from the University, there are several organizations in southern
Arizona where research on insects
is carried out and where there are
useful facilities. For example, the
Southwestern
Research Station at Portal is
an excellent field station in the
Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern
Arizona run by the American Museum
of Natural History. This spectacular
site and the good laboratory facilities
and accommodations are about a four-hour
drive southeast of Tucson. The Audubon
Society's Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch, in Elgin, Arizona, is primarily grassland at about
5,000 ft. This area provides research
opportunities in grassland and riparian
habitats with housing and laboratory
space for field researchers and is
about a one hour drive southeast of
Tucson.

The National Park Service administration actively encourages
and has sometimes funded arthropod
ecological research and surveys
on its numerous sites in southern
Arizona.
The Nature Conservancy has many unique
holdings in southern Arizona where
approved research on the ecology
of rare, endangered, or indigenous
species may be conducted. All of
the above listed holdings can restrict
and control public access thus insuring
minimal disturbance of intermediate
and long term study areas. The extensive
National Forests in the mountain
ranges of southern Arizona offer
opportunities for forest insect
research.

University of Arizona Campus Departments

Departments other than Entomology
involved with insects include the
following:

The Departments of Biochemistry
and Molecular Biophysics and
Molecular
and Cell Biology are campus-wide
departments serving the College
of Science. Among thirty-five faculty
in Biochemistry, five are particularly
involved with insects, in particular,
lipid metabolism, insect hormones
and pheromones, and protein chemistry.
In Molecular and Cell Biology the
main insect focus concerns developmental
biology of Drosophila. The
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
includes work on molecular evolution
of defense molecules.

The Department
of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
(EEB) in the College of Science
has currently seven faculty involved
with research on insects, with ecology
and systematics being the major
emphasis. Several courses are co-listed
between EEB and Entomology.

In addition to regular departments
within the Colleges of the University,
the Arizona
Research Laboratories (ARL)
is an interdisciplinary research
unit established to provide a mechanism
for administering and fostering
interdisciplinary research. It forms
research groups to initiate new
programs of high priority. Its divisions
include

The Institute for Environment and Society works across the University of Arizona campus to provide both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research relating to the environment of the Earth, from local to global scales, and how this environment is likely to change in coming seasons, years, and decades. IES encourages multidisciplinary action on and off campus, as well as with users of environmental knowledge and information. One of their main goals is to forge new paradigms in University partnership with society's decision-makers.

Center
for Insect Science

The Center
for Insect Science (CIS) is
a unique organization at the University
of Arizona for funding interdisciplinary
research on insects. Its beginning
was a grant proposal to NSF written
by six insect researchers in four
different departments.

The CIS was established in 1988
and involves about 112 researchers
from around the State of Arizona
including the departments of biochemistry,
ecology and evolutionary biology,
entomology, molecular and cellular
biology, neurobiology, pathology,
at the University of Arizona, the
Department of Zoology at Arizona
State University, the Department
of Biology at Northern Arizona University
in Flagstaff, and three USDA facilities.
The center is funded by several
federal grants, the MacArthur Foundation,
as well as by industry and the University.
Research efforts span the full range
of modern biological investigation.

Regular half day presentation and
discussion programs aim to get insect
researchers together from different
disciplines and encourage exchange
of knowledge and ideas that foster
interdisciplinary research.

Additional activities include expansion
of basic insect knowledge through
educational outreach, communication,
and technology transfer. The CIS
sponsors graduate and postdoctoral
programs and works cooperatively
with national and international
industry and governments.

The Director of CIS is Dr. Nicholas
J. Strausfeld, Regents' Professor
in the Arizona Research Laboratories
Division of Neurobiology. Further
information and a brochure are available
from Sharon Richards, the Senior
Program Coordinator (email: insects@arl.arizona.edu).

The Graduate
Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology & Insect
Science (GIDP-EIS)

The Program offers interdisciplinary masters and doctoral training in the biology of insects. The Program is flexible in its requirements, allowing students to design, in collaboration with faculty, programs of study tailored to individual interests and needs. Particularly sought are applicants
who have multidisciplinary interests
, such as ecology - biochemistry
or behavioral ecology - neurobiology,
to name a very few. Students are
encouraged to develop cross-disciplinary
connections and bring together aspects
of insect biology in unconventional
ways. The University of Arizona
prides itself in its Graduate Interdisciplinary
Programs (GIDPs). In today's world,
studying complex problems requires
an interdisciplinary approach. The
GIDPs provide a mechanism for incorporating
this principle into graduate training. Further
information and a brochure are available
from Rachael Matull, the Program Coordinator (email: rmattull@email.arizona.edu).